Susan Coover and her husband, George Carr, strung an Eagles banner across the back window of their RV and drove 17 hours to the Twin Cities this week, generating lots of honks and waves from Eagles fans along the way.

The Palmer Township couple wasn’t thrilled about spending their entire year’s vacation budget on a trip to frigid Minnesota, but they kind of felt obligated — the Eagles have won all five games they’ve attended this season.

“I figured we had to finish it out, go 6-0 and head back with a trophy,” Carr said.

Coover and Carr are among the many Lehigh Valley residents and natives who have joined Eagles fans from all over in crowding the skyways of Minneapolis and the halls of the Mall of America.

Hearing about the measures fans will take to experience the potential Big Moment never gets boring.

Charles Kosteva was barely back in his Hanover Township, Northampton County, home Friday after a Colorado ski trip when he and his son, John, flew out to Rochester on Saturday morning. John, a marathoner, ran ahead of Charles in Chicago to make sure their connecting flight didn’t leave without them.

The experience so far has actually been Charles Kosteva’s smoothest trip yet of the three Super Bowls he’s attended. In 1980, the Bethlehem dentist went by bus from the Lehigh Valley to New Orleans, only the bus didn’t quite get there. It broke down on game day. If the travelers wanted to get to the Super Bowl, they’d have to hitchhike.

Andrew Wagaman/THE MORNING CALL

Charles Kosteva of Hanover Township, Northampton County, visiting the Mall of America with son, John Kosteva, who lives in Devon, Chester County.

Charles Kosteva of Hanover Township, Northampton County, visiting the Mall of America with son, John Kosteva, who lives in Devon, Chester County. (Andrew Wagaman/THE MORNING CALL)

A student returning to Tulane University picked up Kosteva and dropped him off at the Superdome. Meanwhile, a dozen of his traveling companions caught a ride with the Southern University marching band, which is known for its high-step marching style and was performing that year during the half-time show.

The all-black band emerged from a stadium tunnel before the game to parade around the field. At the back of the procession were Kosteva’s fellow travelers.

“The band came out doing their fancy high step, and the last row was Bob, Bill, Sally and a bunch of other white guys and gals trying to imitate it,” Kosteva said. “The stadium was going nuts.”

In 2005, the Eagles returned to the Super Bowl and so did the Kostevas. But they had to scramble to the Jacksonville airport right after the game because John, then a resident oncologist, had to work the next morning at Fox Chase Cancer Center. They got to the Atlanta airport after midnight and tried sleeping at a gate until the 5 a.m. flight back to Philadelphia.

“The testing of the fire alarms at 3 a.m. prevented that from happening,” Charles Kosteva quipped.

The Kostevas are staying in Rochester, Minn., this weekend and hope to not get stranded on the side of a highway or stuck overnight at an airport this time around. Charles Kosteva thinks this is the team that will bring the Lombardi trophy to Philadelphia.

“I have good vibes,” he said. “It’s a real team — every week you have four or five different guys leading the charge.”

Every Eagles fan hopes the Doug Pederson-Carson Wentz era will bring many more such trips. But when so much fandom lore is rooted in missed opportunities, Eagles fans know better than to count on it. Coover’s parents attended the 1980 Super Bowl after a friend casually offered up the tickets, saying, “I’ll go next year.”

Next year stretched into a quarter century.

Andrew Wagaman/THE MORNING CALL

Susan Coover and George Carr of Palmer Township drove an RV out to Minnesota.

Susan Coover and George Carr of Palmer Township drove an RV out to Minnesota. (Andrew Wagaman/THE MORNING CALL)

Patriots supporters have had five Super Bowl victories to celebrate but much is still at stake in this one. They arrived in Minneapolis with a chance for their team to tie the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins.

But rare was the moment Saturday at the Mall when Philadelphia apparel left your field of vision. Philly definitely had New England outnumbered there.

Among them were brothers Ryan and Dustin Smith, Pen Argyl natives traveling from Washington, D.C., and Manhattan, respectively. Both are lawyers, but their sister Stephanie was an Eagles cheerleader from 2008 to 2015 — just missing two of the Eagles’ three Super Bowl appearances.

“We always teased Steph that the Eagles would make it to the Super Bowl once she stopped cheering,” Ryan said. “Who knew it would only take two years.”

Andrew Wagaman/THE MORNING CALL

Frank Sipics of Whitehall (right) with son Nick, a Central Catholic grad who now lives in Philadelphia. You only get to have so many experiences like this with family, Frank says.

Frank Sipics of Whitehall (right) with son Nick, a Central Catholic grad who now lives in Philadelphia. You only get to have so many experiences like this with family, Frank says. (Andrew Wagaman/THE MORNING CALL)

When the Eagles beat the Vikings in the NFC championship two weeks ago, Barry Bartakovits and James Stocklas called an audible.

Among numerous charitable endeavors, they have both splurged a bit on buddy trips to sporting events. Bartakovits took friends to the Masters and the Phoenix Open golf tournaments last year and was planning on hitting Phoenix again this weekend when the Eagles’ win changed his plans.

Among their crew is Chris Jones of Nazareth, a former Bloomsburg University football standout whose last Super Bowl trip was with the Buffalo Bills, which he worked for, in 1992 — the only other Super Bowl played in Minneapolis.

“I swore to God that was the last time I was ever coming back due to the lovely tropical climate,” he said Saturday while sporting a Reggie White jersey at the Mall of America, where the outside temperature was in the teens. “But here I am again, because if the Eagles are in the Super Bowl you’ve got to go wherever it is.”

Chris Jones and Owen Baur of Nazareth Saturday at the Mall of America in Minnesota

Chris Jones and Owen Baur of Nazareth Saturday at the Mall of America in Minnesota (Andrew Wagaman/THE MORNING CALL)

“I waited until a few days ago to tell them I wouldn’t be making the usual Super Bowl party,” Owen said.

Not everyone from the Lehigh Valley who made the trip is rooting for the Eagles. Eric Luftig of Lower Saucon Township grew up in Massachusetts and endured many hapless years as a Patriots fan before head coach Bill Belichick arrived in 2000.

Luftig savored New England’s run and considers the franchise a case study in leadership.

He said quarterback Tom Brady, Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft set the tone.

“You play as a team and win as a team. Kraft figured that out and builds around it every year,” he said.

The Patriots are favored to win, which suits many Eagles fans just fine.

Charles Kosteva knows the agony of defeat, having experienced it up close and personal with his beloved team. This year is different, he believes: “I think they’re going to do it this time.”